I must thank you guys again for a wonderful job in putting this software together. And I am among the non Web development / Graphic artist freelancers out there who, just maybe wants things a bit easier. i have 2 requests that can be made in RapidWeaver or maybe a stack:
A feature or a stack, that can allow the easy transition of designing a website to showcasing to a possible client without publishing online or the confusion of adding files to a local drive or ftp. etc.
Just a 3 step development of sending a link or even a video footage etc. to a client to see and hopefully sell a web design to a client.
I am not sure if it is available, but is there a slider that allows you to add and animate customized words, graphic or logo on the images that are involved in the slide? this also can be a good shot at developing awesome look on sliders.
Overall I LOVE Rapidweaver and i am glad I invested in this software.
I could see something like the various online tools that generate a series of images that show your site on desktop, tablet, and mobile. Or maybe exporting your site as a series of PDF’s. No clue what would go into that but would assume it’s a Rapidweaver feature, not a stack one (??).
You could also pretty easily do a screen recording of the site in action by just using the RW preview mode. The newest Mac OS does this natively so you wouldn’t need extra software. Then send the file or a youtube/vimeo link to the client
As for your second one, it probably needs more detail. There are ways to get things to animate - Sections Pro/Sections Box by Big White Duck is a common one, but it’s not an automated solution, it can be pretty involved. As Rob says, some sliders have limited transitions and effects built in to them.
Question 1:
That would be interesting, however, most websites today are not just HTML and CSS. They use Javascript and PHP as well. For PHP you have to have a web server (with php enabled) like apache or nginx to process the code. Your browser can’t do this alone.
There are other issues as well. websites are made up of many files some are code some are assets like images.
Links to pages (think navigation) can be set as relative to page, relative to web address or relative to docroot. Again, this would cause issues if no web server is there to interrupt.
Web developers normally set up a “sandbox” on their hosting server to hold a client’s website while in development and protect access with a password. This allows the developer to build and test the pages and also allows them to grant access to a client so they can see progress, make suggestions etc.
EDIT: You will also want this if you have an issue and need help from the forum some issues are impossible to give help on without a url so we can see the code causing the problem.
Am sorry,… but I have tried everything, as i am just looking to sell the website to a client… so I was hoping to show them a sample of the site where they can interact with… Just like how you can go on graphicRiver.com and interact with the sites they have before u buy it. Maybe I missed something, but as i stated, I am not a tech savvy person, so if you think its not complex to make it happen… Please enlighten me by video.
Hmmmm I see… I will definately check them out. I ended up purchasing 2 Slider stacks, (i forgot the names) but they are limited… Thank you for the Highlight… I do appreciate and respect your reply…
Ok. I see!.. Most of the names I do associate with but like Apache and Nginx. I am not sure of. Because I am not much of a web developer. But @jabostick highlighted screen record and sending to the customer. So i guess I will use that option, until i get some sort of visual training on what to do, to make that option functional.
I just wish an option like that was possible… #sigh.
as for the slider, I will look into those
Thank you for your knowledge. i do appreciate. (I am learning as well about the entire Web development process)
Sometimes its truly good to help someone who needs it, other than saying “you have better things to do with your time”… You can never know when u need the help, specially when your ignorant to something… (a link to a known video could have helped)… But hey, thanks for your input…
I believe at some point in time you will have to publish a live website to a web server somewhere.
So publishing a demo site for a customer to view to a different domain name should not be a problem and to be honest will be no more painful than publishing live. Especially if your hosting provider is using something like cpanel, it will be a just a few minutes work.
Remember that most theme developers have demonstration sites, so perhaps you can find a theme you think a potential client will like and then direct them to the demo site. It will give them a good idea of what different kinds of pages will like, with almost no effort from you.
Another option I have used when selling to a customer is to screen share my desktop. Then demo a design to them.
And finally I once won a contract over facetime by drawing with pen and paper some rough sketches as we both chatted about possible ways forward. I don’t think it was the drawings that won me the contract but more the relaxed atmosphere created in the chat.
Neither were demos of websites but it would work for that. The above were fireworks simulations.
Hmm Interesting… Thats pretty much a good idea…But I just heard from One of the developers of RW. that someone is developing an app or stack that enables you to save your website so it is presentable to clients. So that’s something i hope to see. Believe me, If i had the knowledge of Coding to a higher degree, I guarantee that would be my biggest Project, Because selling a website is a very much essential thing to do as a Designer who knows little to no experience in web development.
Man, y’all are tearing this poor guy apart… take it easy. Have a virtual beer on me…
What you want is a published webpage that you can share with your clients. When you are looking at the products on Envato, those are published webpages, its nothing special. You can setup a couple of sample webpages that you want to show your customers. Then you can published them to either a subfolder on your website or a completely separate subdomain.
In terms of the slider, as suggested before, have a look at my Impact stack.
Thanks @joeworkman… Yea i do get the understanding now… and i mean you can’t wrong them, its just frustrating to explain to someone who don’t have the knowledge but the person with the knowledge dont have the time to explain. It gets frustrating, But to say the least. i am still learning and the more i ask, the more i understand.
Thank you Sir. And I will look into the Impact Stack.
What is your problem? You do realise that you and your problems are not everyone else’s priority?
I explained the solution, so did others; publish the site and send the client the link. You then asked me to make a video about how to do that, I declined as I have better things to do. There are loads of posts on here explaining how to publish a site, so as I say, try helping your self.
Joe: Not tearing anyone apart, just not willing to do their research for them!
